Follow-up after treatment for head and neck cancer: United Kingdom National Multidisciplinary Guidelines

This is the official guideline endorsed by the specialty associations involved in the care of head and neck cancer patients in the UK. In the absence of high-level evidence base for follow-up practices, the duration and frequency are often at the discretion of local centres. By reviewing the existing literature and collating experience from varying practices across the UK, this paper provides recommendations on the work up and management of lateral skull base cancer based on the existing evidence base for this rare condition

A Search for Propylene Oxide and Glycine in Sagittarius B2 (LMH) and Orion

We have used the Mopra Telescope to search for glycine and the simple chiral molecule propylene oxide in the Sgr B2 (LMH) and Orion KL, in the 3-mm band. We have not detected either species, but have been able to put sensitive upper limits on the abundances of both molecules. The 3-sigma upper limits derived for glycine conformer I are 3.7 x 10^{14} cm^{-2} in both Orion-KL and Sgr B2 (LMH), comparable to the reported detections of conformer I by Kuan et al. However, as our values are 3-sigma upper limits rather than detections we conclude that this weighs against confirming the detection of Kuan et al. We find upper limits for the glycine II column density of 7.7 x 10^{12} cm^{-2} in both Orion-KL and Sgr B2 (LMH), in agreement with the results of Combes et al. The results presented here show that glycine conformer II is not present in the extended gas at the levels detected by Kuan et al. for conformer I. Our ATCA results (Jones et al.) have ruled out the detection of glycine (both conformers I and II) in the compact hot core of the LMH at the levels reported, so we conclude that it is unlikely that Kuan et al. have detected glycine in either Sgr B2 or Orion-KL. We find upper limits for propylene oxide abundance of 3.0 x 10^{14} cm^{-2} in Orion-KL and 6.7 x 10^{14} cm^{-2} in Sgr B2 (LMH). We have detected fourteen features in Sgr B2 and four features in Orion-KL which have not previously been reported in the ISM, but have not be able to plausibly assign these transitions to any carrier.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures. Accepted by MNRAS 12th January 200

Luminosity segregation in three clusters of galaxies (A119, 2443, 2218)

We use deep wide-field V-band imaging obtained with the Wide Field Camera at the prime focus of the Issac Newton Telescope to study the spatial and luminosity distribution of galaxies in three low redshift (0.04<z<0.2) clusters: Abell 119, Abell 2443 and Abell 2218. The absolute magnitude limits probed in these clusters are M_{V} - 5logh_{0.7} = -13.3, -15.4 and -16.7mag respectively. The galaxy population, at all luminosities, along the line-of-sight to the clusters can be described by the linear combination of a King profile and a constant surface density of field galaxies. We find that, for these three clusters, the core radius is invariant with intrinsic luminosity of the cluster population to the above limits and thus there is no evidence for luminosity segregation in these clusters. The exception is the brightest galaxies in A2218 which exhibit a more compact spatial distribution. We find the total projected luminosity distribution (within 1Mpc of the cluster centre) can be well represented by a single Schechter function with moderately flat faint-end slopes: alpha=-1.22 (A119), alpha=-1.11 (A2443) and alpha=-1.14 (A2218). We perform a geometric deprojection of the cluster galaxy population and confirm that no `statistically significant' evidence of a change in the shape of the luminosity distribution with cluster-centric radius exists. Again, the exception being A2218 which exhibits a core region with a flatter faint-end slope.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, accepted MNRA

The dwarf galaxy population in Abell 2218

We present results from a deep photometric study of the rich galaxy cluster Abell 2218 (z=0.18) based on archival HST WFPC2 F606W images. These have been used to derive the luminosity function to extremely faint limits (M_{F606W}=-13.2 mag, mu_{0}=24.7 mag arcsec^{-2}) over a wide field of view (1.3 h^{-2} Mpc^2). We find the faint-end slope of the luminosity function to vary with environment within the cluster, going from alpha=-1.23\pm0.13 within the projected central core of the cluster (100 < r < 300 h^{-1} kpc) to alpha=-1.49\pm 0.06 outside this radius (300 < r < 750 h^{-1} kpc). We infer that the core is 'dwarf depleted', and further quantify this by studying the ratio of 'dwarf' to 'giant' galaxies and its dependency as a function of cluster-centric radius and local galaxy density. We find that this ratio varies strongly with both quantities, and that the dwarf galaxy population in A2218 has a more extended distribution than the giant galaxy population.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS; 11 pages, 12 figure

A comprehensive comparison of the Sun to other stars: searching for self-selection effects

If the origin of life and the evolution of observers on a planet is favoured by atypical properties of a planet's host star, we would expect our Sun to be atypical with respect to such properties. The Sun has been described by previous studies as both typical and atypical. In an effort to reduce this ambiguity and quantify how typical the Sun is, we identify eleven maximally-independent properties that have plausible correlations with habitability, and that have been observed by, or can be derived from, sufficiently large, currently available and representative stellar surveys. By comparing solar values for the eleven properties, to the resultant stellar distributions, we make the most comprehensive comparison of the Sun to other stars. The two most atypical properties of the Sun are its mass and orbit. The Sun is more massive than 95 -/+ 2% of nearby stars and its orbit around the Galaxy is less eccentric than 93 +/- 1% of FGK stars within 40 parsecs. Despite these apparently atypical properties, a chi^2 -analysis of the Sun's values for eleven properties, taken together, yields a solar chi^2 = 8.39 +/- 0.96. If a star is chosen at random, the probability that it will have a lower value (be more typical) than the Sun, with respect to the eleven properties analysed here, is only 29 +/- 11%. These values quantify, and are consistent with, the idea that the Sun is a typical star. If we have sampled all reasonable properties associated with habitability, our result suggests that there are no special requirements for a star to host a planet with life.Comment: Published in the Astrophysical Journal, 684:691-706, 2008 September 1. This version corrects two small errors the press could not correct before publication - the errors are addressed in an erratum ApJ will release on Dec 1, 200

Planck intermediate results. III. The relation between galaxy cluster mass and Sunyaev-Zeldovich signal

We examine the relation between the galaxy cluster mass M and Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect signal D_A^2 Y for a sample of 19 objects for which weak lensing (WL) mass measurements obtained from Subaru Telescope data are available in the literature. Hydrostatic X-ray masses are derived from XMM-Newton archive data and the SZ effect signal is measured from Planck all-sky survey data. We find an M_WL-D_A^2 Y relation that is consistent in slope and normalisation with previous determinations using weak lensing masses; however, there is a normalisation offset with respect to previous measures based on hydrostatic X-ray mass-proxy relations. We verify that our SZ effect measurements are in excellent agreement with previous determinations from Planck data. For the present sample, the hydrostatic X-ray masses at R_500 are on average ~ 20 per cent larger than the corresponding weak lensing masses, at odds with expectations. We show that the mass discrepancy is driven by a difference in mass concentration as measured by the two methods, and, for the present sample, the mass discrepancy and difference in mass concentration is especially large for disturbed systems. The mass discrepancy is also linked to the offset in centres used by the X-ray and weak lensing analyses, which again is most important in disturbed systems. We outline several approaches that are needed to help achieve convergence in cluster mass measurement with X-ray and weak lensing observations.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures, matches accepted versio

A CH3CN and HCO+ survey towards southern methanol masers associated with star formation

We present the initial results of a 3-mm spectral line survey towards 83 methanol maser selected massive star-forming regions. Here we report observations of the J=5-4 and 6-5 rotational transitions of methyl cyanide (CH3CN) and the J=1-0 transition of HCO+and H13CO+. CH3CN emission is detected in 58 sources (70 %) of our sample). We estimate the temperature and column density for 37 of these using the rotational diagram method. The temperatures we derive range from 28-166 K, and are lower than previously reported temperatures, derived from higher J transitions. We find that CH3CN is brighter and more commonly detected towards ultra-compact HII (UCHII) regions than towards isolated maser sources. Detection of CH3CN towards isolated maser sources strongly suggests that these objects are internally heated and that CH3CN is excited prior to the UCHII phase of massive star-formation. HCO+ is detected towards 82 sources (99 % of our sample), many of which exhibit asymmetric line profiles compared to H13CO+. Skewed profiles are indicative of inward or outward motions, however, we find approximately equal numbers of red and blue-skewed profiles among all classes. Column densities are derived from an analysis of the HCO+ and H13CO+ line profiles. 80 sources have mid-infrared counterparts: 68 seen in emission and 12 seen in absorption as `dark clouds'. Seven of the twelve dark clouds exhibit asymmetric HCO+ profiles, six of which are skewed to the blue, indicating infalling motions. CH3CN is also common in dark clouds, where it has a 90 % detection rate.Comment: 29 pages, 16 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS. For associated online figures please see http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~crp/papers/cpurcell_2005_online.pd

The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: the local E+A galaxy population

We select a sample of low-redshift (z∼ 0.1) E+A galaxies from the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS). The spectra of these objects are defined by strong hydrogen Balmer absorption lines (Hδ, Hγ, Hβ) combined with a lack of [O ii] 3727-Å emission, together implying a recently truncated burst of star formation. The E+A spectrum is thus a signpost to galaxies in the process of evolution. We quantify the local environments, clustering properties and luminosity function of the E+A galaxies. We find that the environments are consistent with the ensemble of 2dFGRS galaxies: low-redshift E+A systems are located predominantly in the field, existing as isolated objects or in poor groups. However, the luminosity distribution of galaxies selected using three Balmer absorption lines Hδγβ appears more typical of ellipticals. Indeed, morphologically these galaxies are preferentially spheroidal (E/S0) systems. In a small but significant number we find evidence for recent major mergers, such as tidal tails. We infer that major mergers are one important formation mechanism for E+A galaxies, as suggested by previous studies. At low redshift the merger probability is high in the field and low in clusters, thus these recently formed spheroidal systems do not follow the usual morphology-density relation for ellipticals. Regarding the selection of E+A galaxies: we find that basing the Balmer-line criterion solely on Hδ absorption leads to a significant subpopulation of disc systems with detectable Hα emission. In these objects the [O ii] emission is presumably either obscured by dust or present with a low signal-to-noise ratio, whilst the (Hγ, Hβ) absorption features are subject to emission-fillin

The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Spatially resolving the environmental quenching of star formation in GAMA galaxies

We use data from the Sydney-AAO Multi-Object Integral Field Spectrograph (SAMI) Galaxy Survey and the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey to investigate the spatially-resolved signatures of the environmental quenching of star formation in galaxies. Using dust-corrected measurements of the distribution of Hα emission we measure the radial profiles of star formation in a sample of 201 star-forming galaxies covering three orders of magnitude in stellar mass (M∗M∗; 108.1-1010.95 M⊙) and in 5th nearest neighbour local environment density (Σ5; 10−1.3- 102.1 Mpc−2). We show that star formation rate gradients in galaxies are steeper in dense (log10(Σ5/Mpc2) > 0.5) environments by 0.58 ± 0.29 dex re−1 in galaxies with stellar masses in the range 1010 1.0). These lines of evidence strongly suggest that with increasing local environment density the star formation in galaxies is suppressed, and that this starts in their outskirts such that quenching occurs in an outside-in fashion in dense environments and is not instantaneous